Foundation for Active Rehabilitation

Since 1988, the Foundation for Active Rehabilitation has been running an end-to-end programme of social and professional rehabilitation for disabled people in wheelchairs who had suffered a spinal cord injury. As a non-government organisation, created on the initiative of “wheelchaired” people for “wheelchaired” people, the Foundation fully understands their needs and capabilities.

In our country, three to four people a day are involved in accidents resulting in a spinal injury. They are mostly young people between 15 and 30 years old. They find it hard to imagine spending the rest of their lives in a wheelchair.

After the accident, the hospital staff takes continuous care of patients with serious spinal cord injuries. Back home, they are unable to perform even the most essential activities by themselves. Their families are helpless. If they can afford it, they hire a nurse, but is does not solve the problem completely.

Persons with permanent spinal cord injury do not require continuous care for the rest of their lives, and do not have to be released from any responsibilities. They need skills which will allow them to regain their self-reliance, self esteem, and a place in the society.

This is where the Foundation for Active Rehabilitation steps in. It teaches people with spinal cord injury how to lead a normal life in a wheelchair, how to fulfil their dreams and achieve the goals they had before the accident.
 

Programme

The programme created by the Foundation consists of  several elements:

• Recruitment

Active Rehabilitation Instructors: most of them are disabled people in wheelchairs who demonstrate self-reliance following a successful rehabilitation. They visit hospitals and rehabilitation institutions, trying to encourage patients who suffered a spinal cord injury to train their bodies and to follow an active rehabilitation. They recommend training and rehabilitation camps organised by FAR, and explain the methods and principles of active rehabilitation to medical staff.

•  Introduction

During the first-level training and at rehabilitation camps, referred to as introductory camps, participants require basic practical skills and receive information they will need in the future. They learn to get in and out of the wheelchair by themselves, to get dressed and undressed, to move at home and in town, etc. They attend sport classes (wheelchair manoeuvring technique, general fitness training, archery, table tennis, swimming).

•  Follow-up

People in wheelchairs can count on the Foundation’s help not only during the camps. Day-to-day information is provided by regional FAR offices located in all throughout the country. Our co-ordinators run local training groups where participants can continue their rehabilitation after they come back from the camp. Other elements of the Foundation’s programme are specialised sport camps and vocational training: computer courses designed to provide the basis for further education and work for disabled people, as well as training for medical and auxiliary staff. Activities run by the Foundation efficiently bridge the gap between home and hospital, and allow people in wheelchairs to go back to their active lives within shorter timeframes.